State of the States

In his first and only state budget address, Pennsylvania Gov. Mark
S. Schweiker proposed only a small increase for public education,
saying he had to make "hard choices" in a fiscally tight year.

In a Feb. 5 speech to a joint session of
the legislature, the Republican governor offered a $20.9 billion state
budget for fiscal 2003 that would hike the state's basic school subsidy
by $39.6 million, or 1 percent, in the last fiscal year.

The governor earmarked nearly $28 million for the third year of the
Education Empowerment Initiative, which offers extra help to
academically struggling districts. He proposed to make schools, not
just districts, eligible for the money and management help.

As expected, the governor also asked the legislature for $75 million
in new money to help turn around Philadelphia's schools, which are now
being run by a joint state-city commission.

Also included in the governor's budget proposal were several
requests for money to continue existing programs: $23.6 million for a
program that gives $500 tutoring grants to parents of 3rd through 6th
graders who are struggling in math and reading; $30 million for a
program that gives businesses tax credits for contributing to
scholarship and other education efforts; and $25 million for an
incentive-grant program that rewards schools for improving attendance
and scores on state tests, or for keeping up high performance in both
areas.

Gov. Schweiker, who replaced former Gov. Tom Ridge, a fellow
Republican, when he became President Bush's head of homeland security
last fall, has said he will not run for governor in the November
election.

Rowland, Citing Crisis, Wants to Rein In Costs

Eight months after approving plans to deliver financial relief to
local school districts, Connecticut Gov. John G. Rowland is sending out
a different message: That was then, but this is now.

In the governor's annual budget address, which was delivered Feb. 6
at the opening of this year's state legislative session, Mr. Rowland
said lawmakers must not ignore the new economic realities.

Owing in part to the national recession and the Sept. 11 terrorist
attack on the World Trade Center in neighboring New York, Connecticut
now projects a budget deficit of about $650 million in fiscal 2003.
"The state has less money than we all projected," the governor said.
"And we cannot afford to pretend otherwise."

To head off the shortfall, while also paying for new
domestic-security measures, the Republican governor called for a series
of adjustments in the two-year spending plan that he signed last
summer.

Under the budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year that was
released with Mr. Rowland's speech, the biggest change related to K-12
education would involve a 2 percent across-the-board reduction in aid
disbursed through Connecticut's main formula for distributing state
funds to local school systems.

The proposal comes as school leaders around the state await the
promised phase-out of a legislated cap that has limited the annual
increase in state funds their districts can receive. Though lawmakers
approved plans for the phase-out last year, the new policy has yet to
be enacted.

Another of Mr. Rowland's proposals would delay by one year a plan
passed last year to boost state aid for districts' special education
costs. "Responsibility requires us to live within our means," he said.
But some new education spending was included in his
recommendations.

Mr. Rowland called for legislation that gives the children of
Connecticut residents killed in the Sept. 11 terrorism full
scholarships to the state's university system. And he announced plans
for the next phase of a massive construction project under way to
improve facilities at the University of Connecticut in Storrs.

"We've got our best chance ever to keep Connecticut's best and
brightest just where we want them—right here in Connecticut," the
governor said.

And although it wasn't mentioned in his speech, a school voucher
plan is outlined in Mr. Rowland's budget proposals. Building on
recently passed federal legislation—which requires states to
intervene when schools fail to show improvement—the initiative
would allow parents at persistently failing schools to use public funds
to help pay for tuition at private schools, including religious
ones.

—Jeff Archer

Vol. 21, Issue 23, Page 18

Published in Print: February 20, 2002, as State of the States

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